IRS phone scam hits Santa Cruz County

Santa Cruz >> Tax season and income tax scams go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Santa Cruz County residents are not exempt from the season's latest attempts to steal crucial personal information, or worse — hard-earned money.

The Santa Cruz District Attorney's Consumer Affairs Office is warning residents that phone calls and emails from purported Internal Revenue Service agents demanding payment are a fraud and should be reported.

Flipping the script, scammers even try to claim that they are investigating fraud. According to the DA's office, a Santa Cruz County senior, named Hazel, received a phone call from someone claiming he was from the IRS Criminal Tax Fraud Unit. The "agent" told her she owed more than $6,800 in purported overdue taxes from the previous six years and then requested her bank account information to make a payment withdrawal. When Hazel refused, the caller reportedly threatened to take her to court, leaving her to face fines of more than $16,700.

"Though Hazel was concerned about the call, she contacted her tax preparer and verified that all of her taxes had been filed and paid, and that the call was a hoax," a press release from the District Attorney's office reads.

Characteristics of the scam, according to the DA's office, include:

• Scammers give fake names and fake IRS badge numbers.

• Scammers may have a victim's social security number.

• Email phishing scams will lead a victim to a website that imitates the IRS site.

• After threatening victims with fines or jail time, the scammers hang up and others call back pretending to be from the police or sheriff or DMV.

Residents facing similar situations are asked to call the District Attorney's Consumer Affairs Unit at 831-454-2050 to report this and other scams.